Cleaning up partially demolished properties could be too costly: City of Winnipeg report

A Winnipeg councillor says she's frustrated after a report considering how the city could clean up demolition sites that have sat unfinished for long periods of time said the costs could exceed what the city could hope to recover if it seized the property.

Daniel McIntyre Coun. Cindy Gilroy brought a motion forward in April asking that city crews clean up the properties and add the costs to the owner's property tax bill.

The report, which is on the agenda for the community services committee next Wednesday, says the city has the authority — under the Winnipeg building bylaw — to do exactly what Gilroy is asking.

If the owner doesn't pay the fees, they can added to the property tax bill, and if the owner doesn't pay that, the city can seize the property and sell it.

"If council wishes to enforce the remediation of these incomplete demolition sites, it must be done with the understanding that additional factors must be taken into consideration such as additional environmental related costs (i.e. asbestos), the presence of a basement excavation and foundation walls, and the volume and type of materials at each site," report author Winston Yee wrote.

The costs of removing the debris and completing the remediation process, however, could add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars and may add up to more than the property can fetch on the market.

"If the owner of the property fails to pay their property tax debt, the city can take steps to seize the property through the tax sale process, however that does not mean the city will be able to recover the total cost spent cleaning and remediating a site given that total remediation costs can sometimes exceed the value of the property," Yee wrote.

The report recommends that it be received as information, meaning it proposed no course of action.

Regardless of what it might cost the city, Gilroy said the number of demolished and partially demolished buildings is growing, and the city needs to take action.

"We want to make sure that we clean up the debris and get that done, whatever means is necessary," Gilroy said in an interview.

"So the city has to find the funding in order to do that."

Gilroy pointed to an apartment building at 694 Sherbrook St. — which was torn down after a fire in February 2022 and has sat as a pile of rubble ever since — as an example in her own ward of demolition sites that are proliferating across the city.

The report points out that a reserve fund may need to be created to cover the potential costs of site cleanups. Gilroy wants the city to do that.

Community services chair Coun. Evan Duncan says the city needs to send a message to property owners who fail to clean up the sites within an acceptable amount of time.